Post Mortem Examination

6 Key excerpts on "Post Mortem Examination"

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  eBook - PDF

  The Certified Criminal Investigator Body of Knowledge

  • 0 American College of Forensic Examiners Institute(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  For some inci- dents, such as the above case, mental health experts possess the best background for this work. Both areas involve the interpretation of human behavior as evidence to attempt to resolve an open question relevant to making decisions and devising leads. Both also involve extensive victimologies, although a psychological autopsy generally is more detailed, diagnostic, and penetrating. A medical autopsy establishes a cause of death by examining the physical condition of the body. In cases where the manner of death is unexplained and it is not clear what actually happened, a psychological 466 THE CCI BODY OF KNOWLEDGE autopsy may assist in clearing up the mystery. Over the past 50 years, practitioners have worked on revising and refining this approach. 26.1.2 Labels and Concepts 26.1.2.1 Definition When the circumstances surrounding a death can be interpreted in more than one way, psychologists can compile information retrospectively about the victim’s past behavior, most recent psychological state, and potential motives. If an analysis of the decedent’s state of mind is requested for other issues, a biographical type of psychological autopsy can be compiled. If an incident appears to be a homicide, especially a staged homicide, a psychological autopsy can assist with details for incident reconstruction, an area in which typical law enforcement investigators are not trained. Psychological autopsy has been called psychiatric autopsy, retro- spective death assessment, reconstructive evaluation, and equivocal death analysis. The phrase refers to a specific method used for examining a person’s life and personality—specifically, the most recent life aspects of a decedent. Depending on the purpose, it may be used for a variety of evaluations, from testamentary capacity while drawing up a will to the state of mind of the victim during the days or hours before death. There is a strong reliance on the discipline of suicidology.

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  Forensic Medical Investigation of Motor Vehicle Incidents

  • Michael P. Burke(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  1 Purpose of the Postmortem Examination The purpose of the forensic autopsy, in the State of Victoria, Australia, is to discharge a legal responsibility in relation to the Coroner's Act. A primary objective of the postmortem examination is to determine the cause of death. In many deaths associated with motor vehicle incidents, this may be achieved by simply issuing the cause of death as “multiple injuries.” Individuals and groups other than the Coroner may be interested in the autopsy findings in any given case. The medical management of a victim who initially survived the motor vehicle incident, but dies some time after the attendance of ambulance personnel or in hospital, may be of interest to various parties. The autopsy examination also provides a means of audit for emergency and surgical departments where issues such as quality control can be addressed. In the State of Victoria and funded through the Transport Accident Commission, a legislative body managing funding, research, and compensa-tion related to motor vehicle incidents, a committee consisting of trauma surgeons, anesthetists, emergency physicians, and paramedics investigates the medical management of motor vehicle incident victims. The group deter-mines whether the trauma victim could have survived had timely optimal care been instituted. The group reports back to the relevant government departments with recommendations for improvements in emergency and trauma management. As part of the investigation, the postmortem examina-tions are carefully scrutinized. It is extremely important that the autopsy report addresses all issues of interest to such groups. The postmortem examination should seek to address all known and relevant issues pertaining to the case. Documentation of external and internal injuries and the cause of death are fundamental matters of concern during the examination.

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  eBook - ePub

  Forensic Medical Investigation of Motor Vehicle Incidents

  • Michael P. Burke(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  8 Postmortem Examination

  Introduction

  Under the Coroner’s Act in the State of Victoria, Australia, a pathologist or medical practitioner under the supervision of a pathologist may be directed by the Coroner to perform an autopsy on the body of an individual whose remains are under the jurisdiction of the Coroner. The Coroner investigates all natural deaths in which a medical practitioner is unable to provide a death certificate, nonnatural deaths (including accident, suicide, and homicide), maternal deaths, deaths associated with an anaesthetic and deaths in custody.

  The deceased’s next of kin may object to full autopsy examination under Section 29 of the Coroner’s Act. The objection is often related to religious or cultural beliefs. If the Coroner rejects the Section 29 application, the senior next-of-kin has the legal right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Victoria.

  Furthermore, under Section 28 of the Coroner’s Act, “an interested” party may request an autopsy examination following a death. Interested parties include police officers who may request an autopsy examination in cases in which criminal charges may be laid in relation to a motor vehicle incident.

  Depending on the circumstances of the case, and at the discretion of the Coroner, the postmortem examination may entail a mixture of radiographic imaging, external examination and forensic photographic record, internal examination with full subcutaneous dissection, histologic, toxicologic, and microbiologic examination.

  The Postmortem Examination

  The routine procedures and specialized techniques used to perform a postmortem examination will not be discussed and the reader is referred to one of a number of excellent references on the subject.1

  Purpose of the Postmortem Examination

  The purpose of the forensic autopsy, in the State of Victoria, Australia, is to discharge a legal responsibility in relation to the Coroner’s Act. A primary objective of the postmortem examination is to determine the cause of death. In many deaths associated with motor vehicle incidents, this may be achieved by simply issuing the cause of death as “multiple injuries.”

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  Body Lore and Laws

  Essays on Law and the Human Body

  • Andrew Bainham, Shelley Day Sclater, Martin Richards, Andrew Bainham, Shelley Day Sclater, Martin Richards(Authors)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Hart Publishing

    (Publisher)

  The aim of a hospital post mortem was also to determine the cause of death, but from a more scientific perspective, looking for any new patterns of disease, co-morbidities, and checking for the impact of the various medical interventions not only to check adequacy of care but also to evalu-ate new procedures and other developments. For example, Professor Berry’s arti-cle (Russell and Berry (1989) ) indicated the value of the Post Mortem Examination in identifying a number of abnormalities in children with congenital heart defects which had not been diagnosed pre-operatively despite extensive cardiological investigation. The hospital post mortem traditionally tended to be more extensive and take longer, and to be associated with a wish by the hospital to keep specimens for further analysis and for teaching purposes. The coroners’ examinations now constitute the vast majority of post mortems. For hospital deaths occurring in 1998 the Office of National Statistics found that 304,350 deaths took place in hospital, of which 59,264 were followed by Post Mortem Examination, in 55,929 cases at the request of the coroner. (See Interim Report, p. 5, reporting unpublished information provided by the Office for National Statistics). The number of post mortems following death in hospital car-ried out not at the request of the coroner has fallen from 19,367 in 1984 to 11,199 in 1990 to only 3,335 in 1998. How is it decided whether an autopsy should take place and if so under which heading? As a matter of law a registrar is obliged to refer to the coroner deaths which fall into a number of categories, including those where the cause of death appears to be unknown or where death appears to have occurred during an Letting Go: Retention of Human Material after Post Mortem 83 operation. In practice it is often the doctor who asks the coroner’s office whether a post mortem may be carried out.

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  Manual of Crime Scene Investigation

  • Anna Barbaro, Amarnath Mishra, Anna Barbaro, Amarnath Mishra(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  One of the well-known tasks of the medical examiner at a crime scene is the determination of post-mortem interval (PMI), which is the period of time from death to the examination of the body by the medical examiner. It is significant because a suspect can be clearly ruled out or included in the investigation of death and also it can help in narrowing the list of missing persons. Although it is perceived through media that this period can be given by exact minutes, this is not applicable in reality; with advanced techniques, one can reach a narrow range of time. Another very important task of a medical examiner is to determine whether the body was transferred from one place to another after death.

  Post-mortem changes are changes in the human body that start at the moment of death. They progress with time while the body is transferred to the morgue, and hence a good observation at the death scene is very important. These changes of the body are mostly used in determining post-mortem interval. They can provide a wide range of time that can even reach years, as in bone remains. Some of them can also help in deciding whether the body position was altered after death. Hypostasis, rigor mortis, putrefaction, mummification, and adipocere are among post-mortem changes that will be discussed.

  Hypostasis

  Hypostasis, or lividity, is stagnation of blood in the blood vessels due to the effect of gravity. It results from the absence of active blood movement. The blood circulation can be sluggish even before death in a recumbent patient as in brain deaths and this should be taken in consideration in determining the time passed after death.

  Stagnation of blood gives discoloration of the skin in dependent areas of the body in relation to gravity. In bodies found lying on their back, it mostly appears in the back of the body, while in suspended bodies it would appear in the lower limbs. Determining post-mortem interval by describing hypostasis is a subjective method as it can be affected by several factors, and can be divided into stages. The stage of beginning followed by confluence, maximum expansion of intensity, incomplete shifting after turning the body, and non-displacement. The last stage results from hemoconcentration as fluids are lost through the vessel wall (Henssge et al., 1988

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  Criminal Profiling

  An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis

  • Brent E. Turvey(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  There are two types of psychological autopsies: those conducted for suicide (i.e., sui-cide psychological autopsy) and those conducted for equivocal deaths (i.e., equivo-cal death psychological autopsy). The resource data examined are similar to data reviewed during a death investigation. However, the application of psychological theory is what distinguishes psychological autopsies from other types of forensic victimology investigations. Those who conduct EDPAs are generally psychologists or psychiatrists who have training or experience in death investigation and forensic pathology. In use since 1958, psychological autopsies have traditionally played a role in assist-ing the medical examiner in determining the manner of death. Today, consumers of psychological autopsy data have expanded to the private and public sectors serving insurance companies, the U.S. military, the U.S. judicial system, and law enforce-ment. When used in conjunction with an ongoing death investigation, equivocal death psychological autopsy data can provide extensive insight into the mental sta-tus and personality of the deceased. These data serve as an adjunct source of infor-mation to the death investigator and can act to either support or refute ongoing investigation hypotheses. SUMMARY A psychological autopsy (PA) is a technique that entails reviewing the psychosocial aspects of a victim’s life. It is an extension of victimology that attempts to recon-struct the deceased’s psychological state leading up to and at the time of death. Behaviors, thoughts, emotions, and relationships of the deceased individual are examined. Psychological theory is applied to these data to develop a conceptualiza-tion of the victim’s personality as well as a psychosocial environment of the deceased preceding death. By reconstructing the deceased’s background as well as the indi-vidual’s interpersonal relationships, personality traits, and coping mechanisms, the ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Summary

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